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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is facing increasing pressure to explain the COVID crisis and corruption allegations.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, notorious for the country’s ongoing COVID-19 crisis and recent corruption allegations, has appointed a senator from the largest congressional group as his new chief of staff .
Senator Ciro Nogueira, the leader of the center-right Progressive Party (PP), said on Twitter on Tuesday that he accepted the job and is expected to be sworn in as Bolsonaro this week. The closest minister, succeeding a retired general.
When meeting with the president in Brasilia, Nogueira said on Twitter: “I just accepted the honorable invitation of President Bolsonaro to take over the Ministry of Civil Affairs.”
He will be the first heavyweight politician to enter Bolsonaro’s internal cabinet, because the embattled president seeks allies to protect himself from Congress’s impeachment and Senate investigations. Suspected violation The government purchases the COVID-19 vaccine.
Nogueira belongs to the same political party as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Arthur Rila, who refused to accept any of the dozens of impeachment requests against Bolsonaro.
Brazilian Senator Ciro Nogueira gestures after meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia on July 27 [Adriano Machado/Reuters]Lucas de Aragao, a partner at Arko Advice, a Brasilia consulting firm, told Reuters: “This appointment strengthens the presence of this key party in the government and gives Bolsonaro peace of mind. .”
In the past few weeks, Brazilians Mass protest Oppose Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic; According to data from Johns Hopkins University, COVID-19 has caused more than 550,500 deaths in this South American country.
Since the beginning of the crisis, a poll conducted earlier this month showed that most Brazilians Supported Legislative efforts to impeach Bolsonaro.
The far-right leader is a COVID-19 skeptic who often downplays the severity of the coronavirus Avoid calls Implement public health measures across the country and insist that such restrictions will harm the economy.
Al Jazeera’s Monica Yanakiew reported during a large-scale demonstration in Rio de Janeiro on July 24: “They protested a lot: the government’s understatement of the pandemic, the president’s rejection of health and safety measures, and the slow introduction of vaccines. “
On that day, tens of thousands of protesters rallied across Brazil to demand the impeachment of Bolsonaro.
The Brazilian Senate Committee launched an investigation into Bolsonaro’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis in April, and recently there have been questions about alleged violations of its government’s coronavirus vaccine procurement process and past corruption allegations.
Bolsonaro denied these allegations, but his popularity has declined.
Recent polls also showed that Bolsonaro was easily defeated by the former left. President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva In the presidential elections scheduled to be held next year, if there is a vote today.
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